Much has been written about Westsails. Some writers have suggested their classic ads launched a 1,000 dreams of cruising for the average couple / family. A few reports are disparaging. Most provide an honest evaluation, and some full of abject praise. Me: I try to be honest and pragmatic. Is it the perfect boat? No! There is no perfect boat. Is it the boat for everyone? No. Just as there is no one life partner for everyone there is no boat for everyone.
Some individuals in boating circles like to ask; Do you know what the best boat is? .... The one you own! We own a Westsail 42. We have also owned a Westsail 32. On the 32 we sailed about 20-25,000 NM. On this boat as of now we have close to 50,000 NM. And I do have some thoughts after decades of sailing about what to look for in a cruising yacht.
We purchased Elysium as a little used kit boat. She sat under an Avocado tree in S. California for 26 years. The next few years she would be sitting on the hard in Florida. She had less then 100 nm on the knot meter / ships log. She had a sub floor installed, no ceiling, no working heads, cabintry was in place with the majority of the larger trim. She had Tanbark sails, the tall rig, and the larger engine. All things we wanted. And she had NO teak deck.
For us; she was right up our alley. We wouldn't need to deal with mess ups that previous owners made and we could finish her out for long term cruising. We estimated that we would finish about double the sales price. After all, we had experience! We built out a 32 from a hull and deck, we knew the work, we had the skills and we had the time. We planned on 3 to 5 years to refurbish her for long term cruising. The final bill was 4 times the sales price and instead of 3-5 years we ended up close to 7 years. We launched Elysium after being on the hard for 6 years. Year 7 was shakedowns and finishing various details. But! We also ended up with exactly what we wanted and a boat we could be proud of.
Some changes we made: 1) Solid Koa flooring, 2) added a diesel heater, 3) insulated the ceiling and behind the teak ceiling strips, the forward bulkhead, 4) changed out 2 berths for book shelves, 4) installed heads, 5) replaced all the classic yellow Formica, 6) recovered all the cushions,7) stripped and painted the mast, 8) painted the deck, 9) new mast winches, 10) all new rigging, 11) added a holding plate refrigeration system and changed to evaporator plates in 2021, 12) added an Aquamarine Generator /Water maker / Refrigeration Compressor (removed compressor in 2019), 13) installed a Sailomat Wind vane 14) Installed a Lighthouse windlass and 15) Completely rebuilt the companionway . You can see the difference in our Before and After Gallery. That is in addition to all the things we would be doing to bring the boat back from 3 decades of neglect.
Since launching a few of the major projects we have 1) painted the deck and changed to Seadeck, 2) repainted the hull and mast, 3) added a hard dodger, 4) changed to evaporator plates and added more refrigeration making a total of 2 refers and 1 freezer, and 5) refurbished the Windlass.
There are heaps of other subtle changes all documented in the blog.